Iran - 10 Arabs Face Execution

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Tehran is a Racist State, as well as a Homophobic one.

Ethnic cleansing of Ahwazi Arabs in south-west Iran.

London - 3 August 2006

"The Iranian regime is planning the imminent execution of 10 Arab human rights activists from Khuzestan province in the south-west of Iran . They were sentenced to death after secret trials in June. The Iranian supreme court upheld their death sentences on 25 July," warns human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.

"It is believed that both the teenagers executed in the city of Mashhad on 19 July 2005 were Ahwazis. The ethnic background of Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni may have been a contributing factor that led to their execution.

"It is important that the gay community shows solidarity with all the victims of the murderous Iranian regime - and that other victims show solidarity with gay Iranians. United together, the Iranian people can triumph over the clerical dictatorship.

"A further 22 Arab activists are expected to be handed death sentences at the end of their trials, which are being held in secret with no independent observers allowed to attend the court. They are victims of trumped up charges, for which there is no evidence.

"The Tehran regime is now holding Ahwazi children as young as 2 and 4 years old as hostages in prison, in a bid to force their political and human rights activist parents (who are on the run and in hiding) to surrender to the police. If the parents hand in themselves to the authorities, their children will be released, but they will face execution.

"In the last year, 25,000 Ahwazis have been arrested, 131 executed and 150 have disappeared (presumed killed and buried in unmarked graves), according to the Ahwazi Human Rights Organization (see more background below).

"The Ahwazis are one of Iran's several persecuted national minorities who are subjected to racist victimisation by the Tehran regime. Other maltreated minorities include the Balochis, Turkmen and Azeris.

"Iran is a racist state, with a covert agenda for the ethnic cleansing of the Ahwazi Arab people.

"Tehran's land seizures, forced population relocations, massacres, arrests, jailings, tortures and executions of Ahwazi Arabs are crimes against humanity under international law.

"Despite living in the region of Iran richest in oil, the Ahwazi Arab people are victims of a cruel, deliberate impoverishment by the Iranian regime, with half the population living in gross poverty and 80 percent of children suffering from malnutrition.

"We support the efforts of the Iranian people to end the racist, homophobic and misogynist tyranny in Tehran and to establish a democratic, secular state that ensures human rights for all the ethnic, sexual, religious and cultural minorities of Iran.

"Foreign military intervention in Iran would be morally wrong and counter-productive. Reform must come from within, by and for the Iranian people themselves," said Mr Tatchell.

We are writing to inform you of the imminent execution of 10 ethnic Arab-Iranians (Ahwazi-Arabs) in Ahwaz, provincial capital of Khuzestan in southwestern Iran.[1]

On June 7 and 8 the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Ahwaz, in secret trials, sentenced these human rights activists to death. The final execution order was issued by the Iranian Supreme Court in Tehran on 7/25/2006, according to Iranian official news agency ILNA. Their names are as follows:[2]

After the public hanging of Ali Afrawi (17) and Mehdi Nawaseri (20) in Ahwaz and seven other political prisoners inside prisons in March and April of this year, the Iranian regime is once again embarking on a new wave of executions of Ahwazi Arabs.[3]

Last month, Ahwaz Prosecutor-General Iraj Amirkhani, in an interview with Iranian official news agency ISNA, announced that 22 Ahwazi Arab political activists had been arrested and expected to be sentenced to death. These men, like the 10 named above, are also being tried in secret without the presence of independent observers. They are accused of being "Mohareb" or enemies of god which carries death sentence. Other charges are "Destablizing the Country", "Attempt to Overthrow the Government", "Possession of Home Made Bombs" and "Sabotage of Oil Installations". However, no evidence has been presented. The government accused them of working as agents for the US, the UK and Israel, and claimed they have received training in Iraq. Again, the regime has failed to produce any evidence.

Ali Matourzadeh and his wife Fahima Ismaili Badawi have been detained since February 28; Fahima gave birth to their daughter, Salma, in Sepidar Prison in Ahwaz in March. Matourzadeh is founder of the reformist Hizb-i Vifaq (Unity Party). His whereabouts are unknown, while his wife and daughter are being held at Sepidar Prison in Khuzestan Province. Amnesty International has suggested Fahima and Salma are being held in order to force Ali Matourzadeh to cooperate and the group demanded their unconditional release.

Furthermore, there has been an upsurge of arrest and detention of wives and children of political activists who, for fear of their lives, had to flee the country or are in hiding. This appears to be a hostage taking attempt to pressure their return. Some of the recently arrested Ahwazi women and children are:

1. Ma'soumeh Ka'abi (f) and her sons Imad (m), aged 4, she is the wife of political activist, Habib Nabgan. (Released and re-arrested several times).

2. Sograh Khudayrawi (f) and her son Zeidan (m) aged 4. Her husband's name is Khalaf Khudayrawi, who is currently being held at Sepidar Prison.

4. Hoda Hawashem (f) and her son Osameh (m), aged 2. and her other son Ahmad (m), aged 4. She is the wife of opposition activist, Habib Faraj-allah[4].

Iran and its ally Syria are also violating the Geneva Conventions on refugees by returning or threatening to return Ahwazi refugees registered with the UNHCR back to Iran, where they face arrest and likely torture and execution. Iranian Arab refugee Saeed Awda al-Saki was arrested on 11 May in the Syrian capital, Damascus, at the request of the Iranian authorities. He was forcibly returned to Iran three days later and now is held incommunicado at an undisclosed place. Saeed Awda al-Saki, is registered and recognized as a political refugee by the UNHCR. According to Amnesty International he is also facing torture and ill-treatment, and possibly death sentence.[5]

Under pressure from Iran, on May 11, 2006, eight Ahwazi men were detained by the Syrian authorities. These are all mandate holder political refugees, registered and recognized by UNHCR in Syria:

Three of the above have been released and four remain in detention in Syria.

Since the Ahwazi Intifada (uprising) began on April 15, 20065, more than 25,000 Ahwazis have been detained, at least 131 have been executed and over 150 have disappeared (believed to have been tortured and killed by Iranian security forces). Confiscation of Ahwazi Arab farmland, forced displacement and other measures of ethnic cleansing and ethnic restructuring are other examples of repression and persecution of Arab ethnic minority in Iran. Iranian authorities level accusations against the US, UK and Israel as the cause of Ahwazi demands for democracy, social and economic justice.

We urge you and the United Nation to take immediate action to prevent the execution of these political prisoners.